Dreamful

 

                            DREAMFUL

               CHAPTER:48

                         ..."I am already late for the gym!", Edwin said into the phone, which was kept on the speaker while he dried his hair.

"And can you not use the hairdryer for a minute, I absolutely cannot hear you!", came the answer. His eyes landed outside the apartment window, toward the right side, a girl, happily playing with two white puppies,

"Hello?!", went the phone again, Edwin shut the hairdryer off as he took a step ahead toward the window.

"EDWIN, I'M -"

"Can I call you back? In ten minutes?", he said at last and the call disconnected without another word. But he didn't care about the call at the moment as his eyes were fixed on the street. The girl side turned a little, picking up one of the white pups in her hands, she had her hair in a messy bun, and her pastel blue co-ord gym set went so well with her skin tone,

"Dez...", Edwin muttered as he took his DSLR camera in one hand and gym bag in another, almost running down the stairs and walking the street. He knew it was Destiny the moment he saw her, even when her face wasn't showing, he knew it was her. The goal was- to click candid pictures without her knowing. As quietly as he could, he went toward her and stopped at a certain distance, and it wasn't like she would know because the streets were busy. He looked in through the viewfinder, to capture the perfect shot, and the view had never been prettier. Never prettier than this view he saw at eight forty-five on a Tuesday in the middle of a busy street and right opposite his apartment. 'SNAP' went the shutter as he captured a shot of Destiny smiling and holding the puppy, time for the second one- angle change. He wanted this one to be a little more zoomed in. SNAP 2 went another one, wherein Destiny had placed the pup down and it was now happily moving around her. It was a wonderful scene to look at. The plan for SNAP 3 was a point-of-view shot...hmmm.. difficult when she isn't knowing about any of this. He quietly walked behind her, and stood a foot away, quickly going to the settings and switching off the shutter noise. And there was it! A perfect point of view, three fourth face shot of Destiny smiling at the puppies. Last Shot? Hmmm, he had a plan. He turned on the shutter noise and as discreetly as he could, walked near her, her still facing opposite to him and just three inches away from her ear, the camera went SNAP!, as Destiny flinched looking behind, her eyes wide with horror.

"WHAT IN YOUR RIGHT MIND, EDWIN!", she shouted, getting up, half laughing, half annoyed.

"You scared me!!", she said again. Edwin laughed,

"Did I? It feels great to know I'm successful in my task!". Destiny rolled her eyes and said,

"Anyway, show me the pictures!", she said, extending her hand to grab the camera.

"Sure, one picture 20 Euros, and I'll send them to you via mail.".Destiny laughed,

"I haven't ever paid those professionals, I'll pay you?"

"Hey, hey, I'm no less than a professional-", he began when his phone started ringing. Edwin closed his eyes looking up, it appeared like he didn't want to receive the call as he dug for his phone in the pocket,

"TEN MINUTES EDWIN?! DONE WITH YOUR TEN MINUTES, ARE YOU?", a voice shouted from the other end. He glanced at Destiny who rose her eyebrows, worriedly looking at him.

"No seriously, just tell me-"

"Listen, I'm at the gym, I'll call back, I promise !", he said and hung up.

"We aren't at the gym yet, work calls or boss calls?", Destiny questioned, analyzing his worry.

"Both? And besides I didn't lie as we are heading toward the gym so we eventually will be at the gym."

"Yea, unless a car hits us or something, and we-"

"SEE, SEE! This is exactly what I do not like! Start being a bit more optimistic and I'm sure you'll excel!". And this is what Destiny did not like! Him giving her bits of advice every single time! And particularly then because she did not want him to come up with the previous day's gig topic, as he had asked her to not go and what he thought about the agency was true but she had been stubborn and she would hate to have him tell that he was right and she was...well-not wrong, but stubborn. And she prayed that the gig topic won't come up but the conversation was heading in the same direction.

                       *****************************

"So, How did yesterday's gig go? Good? Bad? You didn't tell me about it?", Edwin asked-the question she'd been avoiding. GREAT. Destiny opened her water bottle and took another sip of water. What was she supposed to answer? She thought she was saved when his phone started ringing again and this time she could see the irritation in his eyes, the same way she always saw joy and happiness. He got up and went for a good 5 minutes before coming back.

"You know your boss is really mad at you."

"Sure they are!", he said, keeping his phone sadly on the staircase.

"That's- I mean you are such a hard-working person, you are never free! Then why would you boss-wait! Is your boss Andy?! The senior interviewer present with you?"

"Andy Williams? No, Dez!", he laughed, "Andy is cool, anyway, how was your gig?". SERIOUSLY! Back to the same question. She thought the call would distract him but no! This was Edwin we were talking about and not some normal human being. Destiny picked up her water bottle again and before she opened it, he snatched it from her hand and kept it beside him.

"Drinking water isn't the solution or my answer." Destiny turned to face him,

" I didn't do the gig.", she said, finally.

"Why?", Destiny took a deep breath,

"Because they wanted me to wear a dress which was something I didn't like and before that they wanted me to sign some papers, so Edwin, thank you for your advice, I do not know what would have I done if I signed those sheets.Happy?", she completed in a very monotonous tone. All he did was laugh,

"What's so funny may I ask?", she questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"The fact that you listened to me without being stubborn for the first time."

"Sure! And can we stop talking about the gig? Please!"

"No, Dez, it's about your career-"

"FOR NOW! Tell me when will the talent round go live? We shot for it almost two weeks ago!"

"Tonight.", he answered, and just like that her heartbeats began to race. This was serious career stuff going on, ten more girls would be eliminated from Miss. Photogenic, shortlisting forty and that too depending on how many votes did the people give them and if she didn't make it in the forty, well, then... she had no option but to go back to her previous job.

                       *************************

  Sure Dez was nervous but not I'm-gonna-be-eliminated-today-itself-nervous, it was more like I-am-still-not-used-to-watching-myself-on-the-television-nervous. The talent round was scheduled to air at eight p.m., Grace had gone out with Oliver after their recent reunion but she had promised Destiny that she'll be sure to watch her at eight pm sharp. Destiny opened her laptop and took her cup of coffee closer, as she logged on to the pageant website, the clock hit 8 as the data loaded on the website. She scrolled down to find herself and there she was! Her profile along with five different pictures of her from different shoots all aligned and of course, the ramp walk video. She rolled her eyes clicking on the video for a better view and well, she looked pretty, enchanting! The pastel blue dress with silver handwork had done wonders on the camera, it looked dreamy and she looked just fine. No one would be able to tell her sandals got stolen, her phone was lost and found and she missed the bus back home all in the same day looking at her. The only thing that looked out of place were the heels! Oh, the heels! The dark green ugly ones she had to borrow. 

"You look enchanting, Dez, it's like...you were made to be a model.", she heard her mother say, watching the video on loop. Her phone rang, it was Grace,

"I SEE YOUU!!!!", Grace shouted from the other end when she heard Oliver say,

"Dez! We all are gonna vote for you! Well done!"

"Thank you guys!", she giggled when her phone started ringing again, this time, it was Ivy,

"Grace, Ivy's calling, I'll see you later?"

"For sure! Bye!", she hung up and came Ivy on the line,

"Destinyyy!!!!", she squealed, "did you see how perfectly beautiful, pretty you look on your profile? Perfect! I told you everything's gonna be fine, didn't I?"

"Ivy...me being or not being a part of the pageant now depends on the number of votes I get."

"Votes? Of course, what's there to worry about? I'll ask all my students to vote for you and also, everyone I know! Simple! Don't worry, Dez, we won't let you get eliminated!", she said cheerfully. Truly, if you have someone like Ivanna Nooks in your life, then your problems are half sorted.

                                                                             TO BE CONTINUED...

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